or of calm endurance, he has a trivial glance of
deprecation for the observer, and his figure is wholly wanting in the
force of young manhood. A striking contrast to this effeminate mood may
be found in No. 724, also a _Madonna Enthroned_, between St. Jerome and
St. Sebastian, a late signed picture of Crivelli's declining talent,
with a predella below the chief panel in which appear St. Catherine,
St. Jerome in the Wilderness, the Nativity, the Martyrdom of St.
Sebastian again, and St. George and the Dragon. The little compartment
containing the scene of the Nativity is quite by itself among Crivelli's
works for intimate and homely charm. The simplicity of the surroundings
and the natural attitudes of the people have an almost Dutch character,
borne out by the meticulous care for detail in the execution united to
an effect of chiaro-oscuro very rare in early Italian art and hardly to
be expected in a painter of Crivelli's Paduan tendencies. The St. George
is more characteristic, with an immense energy in its lines. In
arrangement it recalls the St. George of Mrs. Gardiner's collection and
despite its small size is almost the equal of that magnificent example
in concentration and fire.

[Illustration: In the Metropolitan Museum, New York.

PIETA

_From a panel by Carlo Crivelli_]

Still another type, and one that combines dignity and much spirituality
with naive realism, is the _Beato Ferretti_ (No. 668), showing an open
landscape with a village street at the right and a couple of ducks in a
small pond at the left, the Beato kneeling in adoration with a vision of
the _Virgin and Child_ surrounded by the _Mandorla_ or _Verica_ glory
appearing above. The kneeling saint is realistically drawn and his face
wears an expression of intense piety. The landscape is marked by the
bare twisted stems of trees, that seem to repeat the rigid and
conceivably tortured form of the saint. A beautiful building with a
domed roof is seen at the right. At the top of the picture across the
cloud-strewn sky is a festoon of fruits, Crivelli's characteristic
decoration.

[Illustration: In the Staedel Gallery at Frankfort.

A PANEL BY CARLO CRIVELLI (_a_)]

[Illustration: In the Staedel Gallery at Frankfort.

A PANEL BY CARLO CRIVELLI (_b_)]

In all these pictures Crivelli reveals himself as an artist filled with
emotional inspiration, to whom the thrill of life is more than its
trappings, and one, moreover, who observes, balances a